The shadow health secretary, Liam Fox, sought to backtrack on his controversial call for the abolition of Britain's abortion laws yesterday by denying he was in favour of making terminations illegal.

The outspoken frontbencher insisted he would not support the outlawing of abortions but wanted a restriction on the 24-week limit for conducting the operation.

But Dr Fox then revealed a more fundamentalist streak by suggesting the reason he had tempered his previous call was because it was unrealistic. "I said I would like to see restriction, if not abolition," he explained. "Because I don't think it would be abolished, I would like to see it restricted."

The shadow minister's explanation, on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, came a week after he called for the party "to pray that there would be a huge restriction, if not abolition, of our pro-abortion laws."

The comment, in the Conservative Christian Fellowship Prayerbook, was attacked by family planning charities as "an affront to women" and led to Tory central office seeking to play down fears it would become an election issue.

Even his leader, William Hague, distanced himself by saying there would be "no statement" on the issue in the party's manifesto. Dr Fox, a Roman Catholic, refused to respond at the time.

Yesterday, however, Dr Fox, who spearheaded the attack on stem cell research and is known for his pro-life views, sought to remain true to his views while toeing the party line.

"I would like to see some reduction in the time abortion is allowed in this country. It's a personal view" he told the programme. But he stressed any change in the law would be decided by a free vote.

He insisted that even those who supported the 1991 act permitting abortion up to 24 weeks would now support a change in the law since "science has changed and our ability to diagnose things has dramatically increased."

But family planning groups remained unimpressed. "Whether he wants abortion to be completely abolished or limited is to an extent irrelevant: it's still trying to limit women's rights and access to abortion and that is unacceptable," said Juliet Hillier, of the Family Planning Association.

No stranger to controversy, Dr Fox has recently come under fire for telling a joke - "What do you call three dogs and a blackbird? The Spice Girls" - that succeeded in being both racist and sexist.

Last August, he caused the Tories to be accused of propagating "fear and prejudice" by suggesting foreign doctors should undergo stricter tests in English.